Father Figure
by AizentheDevil
Summary: The first in a series of fanfics centered around what became of the Morioh Gang between the end of DiU and the start of Stone Ocean. Okuyasu becomes an apprentice chef working under Tonio.
1. Employment

Two years had passed after that fateful summer in Morioh. The town had returned to being just a normal town... well, relatively speaking at least. Josuke was protecting Morioh from any and all possible threats while living his normal life with his Mom and Koichi had just gone on vacation to Italy. There was one boy in this little town who was having a hard time with the way his life was, Okuyasu Nijimura. After Jotaro's adventure to Egypt, his Father became a deformed blob which effected his and his Brother Keicho's lives. Because of the way he looked, his Father couldn't be the breadwinner anymore. Because of this, he and Keicho lived in poverty. And since Keicho was gone and told him to start doing things for himself during his near death experience, he had come to this realization; he needed a job. As dumb as he was, he knew he couldn't wait around for another money scheme to come out of Josuke and his savings could only go so far. But the big question was this: "Where would he work?"

"Hmm... I've gotta start pulling my weight around here. It's bad enough this house is already condemned, but I've gotta do somethin' to keep me and Dad off the streets. But who should I go to?" He thought to himself. Then suddenly, and surprisingly, he got an idea. "Oh yeah, Tonio's place! Maybe he needs an extra hand around the Restaurant! Maybe he'll help me out! I've had to take care of preparing meals so I already have some skill And what's more, I get to work with lots of great food!" He thought again. Determined, he heads out to Tonio's Restaurant.

"See ya later, Dad! Take care of Stray Cat while I'm out!" He said as he ran out the door full of optimism.

Meanwhile, at Tonio's Restaurant, Tonio was serving his customers, taking every issue they had into account before working on the food. Okuyasu then came in.

"Bigorno Okuyasu. How have you been today? Let me feel your hands and let me see what I can whip up." He said.

"No, Tonio. I'm not here to eat. I came to ask you something." Okuyasu said.

"Okay, shoot." He said. He had no idea why Okuyasu came here if it wasn't for food. Him and his Father usually did come here for that reason especially with the failed attempt to get his Father's body back to what it once was.

Okuyasu started to sweat. He grew more and more nervous. "I...I want to work here as your apprentice!" He said bowing his head.

Tonio was taken aback at that statement. An apprentice? For him? He had no idea Okuyasu had such an interest in the culinary arts. "You... want to be my apprentice? To be honest, I'm flattered." He said.

"Really?! So you'll consider it?!" Okuyasu said excitedly.

"Of course. You can start next weekend." He said.

"SWEET!" Okuyasu exclaimed. He was excited. He got the job he was hoping to get. He ran out excited.

"Hey, Okuyasu! What's up?" Josuke said.

"Josuke, Tonio just made me his Apprentice Chef! I'm going to be preparing lots of great food!" Okuyasu boasted.

"Really?! Congratulations, man! Hey, remind me to stop by some time so I can try out some of your food." Josuke said.

"Sure, just stop on by and I'll treat you to something good!" Okuyasu said. What he doesn't know is that his first day on the job won't go how he thinks it will.

Soon, He returns home.

"Hey Dad! I just got a job!" He exclaimed.

He might not be able to say it, but it's clear that he's proud of his son. He hugs him in celebration of his son landing his first job.

(AN: I was trying to keep this as true to the Japanese employment laws as much as I possibly can. I read that 15 is the minimum age in which Japanese students can be hired, so I'm not sure if Okuyasu would need to get the school's permission. If anybody thinks I might have made a mistake in regards to that, please tell me so by PMing me and tell me if I got something wrong and I'll try to fix it.)


	2. First Day on The Job

All throughout the week, all Okuyasu could talk about was how excited he was to work at Tonio's. He would constantly boast about how the next time anybody would step in there, they'd be eating food he made. This would begin to grate on everybody's nerves.

Now, the weekend finally came. Okuyasu, excited as he could be, ran straight to Tonio's restaurant.

"This is gonna be so cool! I don't know what to start with first! Maybe he'll teach me how to make a pizza! No wait, perhaps he'll teach me how to fry up some mozzarella sticks! He'll probably teach me how to make Harlot's Spaghetti! Oh I just want to make them all! I can't wait!" He thought to himself. He then busted right through the door. "I'm ready for my first day!" He exclaimed.

Tonio saw Okuyasu's entrance and he couldn't help but smile. It was kind of nostalgic to him. It reminded him of how excited he was when he was an apprentice.

"Bigorno, Okuyasu. Now that you're here, let me show you the ropes." Tonio said.

Okuyasu was bursting with excitement. He couldn't wait to start making food. He had no idea where to start.

Tonio brought Okuyasu to the kitchen. "Alright, the first thing you need to know while working at a restaurant is to keep the place, especially the kitchen, clean at all times. Although I think your friend with the pompadour could've told you that." Tonio joked.

Okuyasu chuckled a bit. "Yeah, Josuke wouldn't let me hear the end of it." He said.

"Okay, what I need you to do..." Tonio said.

"Yes?" Okuyasu thought.

"...is..." Tonio said.

"Yes?!" Okuyasu thought.

"...to..." Tonio said.

"YES?!" Okuyasu thought. The suspense was killing him. What was Tonio going to task him with?

"...clean things up." Tonio said.

Okuyasu's excitement was quickly diminished. That was what he was going to do here? Cleaning?! He felt like he was being toyed with.

"Hey, What are you trying to pull?! I thought you were going to make me your apprentice!" Okuyasu exclaimed feeling very annoyed.

"You are my apprentice." Tonio said.

"But I thought you were going to teach me to make food! Why do I need to clean?!" Okuyasu asked.

"Okuyasu, becoming a chef isn't something that happens overnight. You need to work yourself up from the bottom before I can teach you to prepare food. Every chef had to do this at one point. Even I had to do it when I was just learning the ins and outs." He explained.

Okuyasu gave him a skeptical look.

"Look, I promise that I will teach you to prepare food, but right now I just need you to clean things up. And while you're at it, could you also do a check on our inventory?" He asked.

"Alright." Okuyasu said reluctantly.

He then puts on an an apron and gloves and begins mopping the floor. He grumbles to himself about how this wasn't what he asked for.

Josuke and Koichi, the latter of whom recently got back from Italy, decided to stop by and see how Okuyasu was doing at his job. Instead of preparing food as he constantly thought he would, he was cleaning. Josuke was trying his hardest not to laugh at how ironic this situation was. He had to clean the whole restaurant while Okuyasu stuffed his face when they both came here for the first time two years ago. Now the roles were reversed.

"So, how's the apprenticeship going?" Koichi asked.

"Oh, it's going good. Just not how I pictured it would go." Okuyasu told them.

Tonio looks to them. "Bigorno, boys! Would you like something to eat? Just sit down and I'll get right on it." Tonio said.

"No thanks, Tonio. We just came here to see how Okuyasu was doing." Josuke said. He goes over to Okuyasu. "What was that you kept saying about the next time I ate here?" He whispered with a grin.

"Shut up, so what if I didn't know it was going to start out like this?" Okuyasu whispered.

"I kept telling you things might not start out the way you expect them to." Josuke said.

"Yeah well, I can tell you that I WILL be preparing food soon. Just wait." Okuyasu told him.

"Okay, good luck then. Oh, and one more thing." Josuke said. He brought Okuyasu over to whisper to him. "If you think mopping the floor sucks, cleaning the toilets is going to be even worse." He said as he and Koichi left.

Okuyasu continued cleaning things up. He already had experience in doing this every now and then when school was out as part of his daily tasks. He then moved on to cleaning the counters and then the kitchen. He had to make sure it was spotless. While he was there, he took a quick inventory check on the food supplies. He looked at all the food he wanted to work with... As well as eat.

"Pasta... Pepperoni... Mozzarella... It all looks so good!" He thought.

"How are we doing on supplies?" Tonio asked walking into the kitchen.

"Huh? Oh, yeah! We've got everything!" Okuyasu told him.

"That's great to hear. Could you bring out the sausages? I need them for a meal I'm making." Tonio said.

"Gotcha!" Okuyasu said as he opened the freezer door. He took out the linked sausages. "So where should I put these?" He asked while some links were hitting the ground.

"WHAT'RE YOU DOING?! DON'T LET THEM DRAG ON THE FLOOR! PICK THEM UP!" Tonio yelled at Okuyasu looking very upset.

"Oops, sorry!" He said. He was trying to get the sausages up on the floor, but then the sausages wrapped around him and he started wrestling with them as if the links were a giant snake.

Tonio looks at him and gives off an annoyed sigh. Maybe hiring Okuyasu was a mistake.

After having to clean the kitchen again and having to give the sausages that hit the floor to the dog Tonio had because of his policy about not wasting food, now came the part Josuke warned Okuyasu about: cleaning the toilets. He really didn't want to do this. One of the toilets wasn't even flushed and still a turd in it. He then got an idea. Maybe he could clean the toilet without having to actually touch it.

"The Hand." He whispered as to not bother the customers. He then uses his Stand to clean the toilet. Well, he did remove the turd and the crud that was building up, but he also ended up erasing the toilet. He starts to panic as water starts to come out.

"No, no, no, no, no, no! What have I done?!" He exclaimed.

Tonio gave his customer the meal he was preparing. He then heard the sound of something spraying out and somebody panicking. Unfortunately for him, it sounded like his apprentice.

"Just a minute please." He said before heading to the bathroom. When he stepped in, he started to feel the spray of toilet water. "Okuyasu, what did you do?!" He yelled.

"I'm sorry, Tonio! I used The Hand to clean the toilet!" He yelled back.

"WHAT?! WHY?!" Tonio asked felling irritated.

"There was still a turd in there and I didn't wanna touch it, so I thought maybe The Hand would be great for cleaning up!" Okuyasu exclaimed.

Tonio, annoyed by his apprentice's incompetence, rushed back out and turned off the water to the toilet so that the water wouldn't get on any of the customers if they had to use the bathroom.

"Excuse me, everyone. There was a problem in the men's restroom. We're going to have this problem sorted as soon as possible. I apologize for any inconvenience this might cause." He said addressing his customers.

After a call to the plumber and having to get another toilet installed after Okuyasu's attempt at cleaning it, Tonio is feeling very angry with him. You can tell from the look on his face that he's tempted to fire him.

"Am I fired?" Okuyasu asked sounding worried.

The temptation to say yes was almost too great to resist, but Tonio calmed himself by taking a deep breath. "No." He said.

That was a surprise. Okuyasu thought he was really going to get it. "You're still going to let me work here?" He asked.

"Yes. Today was just your first day and it's very common to mess up when you start out. I just hope you'll learn from your mistakes. Even I made mistakes back when I was an apprentice." He said.

"Come on, you're just kidding! You make all that great food! There's no way you could've been that much of a screw up." He said.

"Well, not exactly as bad as you, but I still stumbled a bit. Besides, if you think I was being strict, you should've known my mentor, Mr. Petrucci." Tonio said with a slight giggle reminiscing on his own days as an apprentice.

"How bad was he?" Okuyasu asked curiously.

"Ooh boy, the stories I could tell. Trust me, Josuke should be thankful I just had him clean the restaurant for spreading germs in my kitchen. Mr. Petrucci would've REALLY put him through the wringer. I still remember when I messed up an order at his restaurant once. He hit me with a wooden spoon until I got it right." He said.

"Wow, good thing you're a much nicer guy." He said.

"Yeah. Anyway, here's your pay for the day." He said as he gave him his paycheck.

Okuyasu looked at it and couldn't believe how much was taken out. It was only half of it. "Hey! What's this about?!" He asked.

"I'm sorry, but I needed to take half out of your check to pay for the replacement toilet." He said.

"Oh. Well I suppose that makes sense. See you tomorrow, Tonio!" He said as he ran back home. Though small, he was still glad he got his first paycheck.

When he got home, Okuyasu made a note not to use The Hand to clean the toilets.

(End of chapter.)


End file.
